{"id":525061,"date":"2018-02-16T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T19:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=525061"},"modified":"2018-02-18T08:32:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T15:32:19","slug":"courts-could-end-up-deciding-how-much-secrecy-spaceport-gets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/courts-could-end-up-deciding-how-much-secrecy-spaceport-gets\/","title":{"rendered":"Courts could end up deciding how much secrecy spaceport gets"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> There\u2019s a strong chance the debate over how much secrecy Spaceport America<\/a>\u00a0gets will end up in court.<\/p>\n

State lawmakers approved legislation Thursday that allows the spaceport to shield from the public some information about customers, such as trade secrets. After a session of hot debate, amendments convinced the N.M. Foundation for Open Government to drop its opposition to the bill<\/a>. Then it sailed through to approval.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

But there appear to be differing interpretations of how much secrecy the final bill allows.<\/p>\n

The spaceport\u2019s CEO, Dan Hicks, sought legislation that would let his agency keep all information about customers secret \u2013 including lease agreements, rent payments and even companies\u2019 identities. Open-government advocates, meanwhile, have said information like companies\u2019 identities and rent and fees should be public.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the facility is publicly owned and was built with a mix of state appropriations and local tax increases in Do\u00f1a Ana and Sierra counties.<\/p>\n

Transparency advocates believe the version of the bill that passed the Legislature, which awaits action by Gov. Susana Martinez, would keep some of that information public. But Hicks said he believes the bill could still allow the spaceport to keep information like leases and company identities secret<\/a>. If the governor signs the bill, there may be disagreement over its implementation.<\/p>\n

This debate is playing out in the context of how the spaceport has treated requests for information in the past<\/a>. Even without the pending bill on the books as law, the spaceport has withheld information<\/a> including how much some companies are paying in rent and fees and where at the spaceport they\u2019re operating.<\/p>\n

I contend that\u2019s illegal. I filed complaints<\/a> with the state attorney general in September, which are pending.<\/p>\n

This matters. New Mexicans funded this project. It\u2019s our spaceport, and we have a duty to evaluate its success.<\/p>\n

The N.M. Inspection of Public Records Act<\/a> is based on the premise that \u201call persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government.\u201d That\u2019s because, the law states, \u201ca representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our state\u2019s success depends on us knowing what our government is doing and being able to help formulate public policy that makes sense.\u00a0Exemptions that allow secrecy must be rare.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the well-funded commercial space industry is\u00a0hyper-competitive<\/a>. Some companies are demanding total secrecy to protect proprietary information or they won\u2019t do business in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s real tension in this debate. It\u2019s difficult to find the appropriate balance.<\/p>\n

The debate has wide-ranging implications. If companies doing business at the spaceport get such secrecy, what\u2019s next? Will Twitter construct a facility next to Facebook in Los Lunas in a few years, without us getting to know that the building under construction is Twitter\u2019s? If the spaceport gets total secrecy, expect pressure on the Legislature to expand that protection to other areas of economic development.<\/p>\n

I want the spaceport to succeed. Our state is desperate for good-paying jobs. I\u2019d like to see New Mexico build a stronger economy so our children have the choice to stay here after college.<\/p>\n

The debate over secrecy is a healthy part of a process that will hopefully help that happen.<\/p>\n

But given the differing interpretations of this bill and the spaceport\u2019s problematic transparency track record<\/a>, I don\u2019t think action by the Legislature or governor will end this debate.<\/p>\n

My best guess is that the courts will ultimately have to decide how much secrecy state law grants Spaceport America.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There appear to be differing interpretations of how much secrecy is allowed by a bill that passed the Legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[3634,107,141,706],"class_list":["post-525061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2018-legislative-session","tag-roundhouse","tag-spaceport-america","tag-transparency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}